I know this has been debated before, but after I caught a juvenile 5" obviously wild brown today in Chester Creek I'm wondering if it is really impossible for some stocked trout to adapt & breed.

This fish was caught quite some distance from any Runs or feeders that are known to have wild populations (I know where some do). And I'm wondering how even those populations got started as well - if stocked fish indeed absolutely cannot adapt.

they can and will, they just need the right conditions. How else would we have wild browns and bows, and in many places, "native" brookies. Hard to say that those natives are the same strain that was here when the indians roamed, considering there was more clear cutting in the last 400 years then most of us can even begin to wrap our minds around.

It is also possible that they stocked a 5 inch fish. I have seen that before, and considered it an atrocity. Since I don't know you, I can only figure that you know what a wild fish looks like, so you are probably right on. They've been humping. It isn't like they are sterilized or they weren't taught how to. It's nature man.

btw, i have no idea about this Chester creek, location, conditions, etc

springer1 wrote:This fish was caught quite some distance from any Runs or feeders that are known to have wild populations (I know where some do). And I'm wondering how even those populations got started as well - if stocked fish indeed absolutely cannot adapt.

Sure, they can adapt and start spawning.....although I think this is relatively rare these days. Although I'm not familiar with the watershed in question, you might be surprised how far wild trout will travel. It's not uncommon for browns to migrate many miles up and down warm water rivers during the colder months of the year and then up into smaller tribs come late spring. The presence of a lone (or a few) wild fish doesn't necessarily imply that stockies are spawning, although it could. I'm usually inclined to attribute it to migration.Whatever the case, consider it good news and keep an eye out. Maybe walk the stream in November and look for spawners.

Since it's on the reproduction list, it may not be a matter of recent stocked browns adapting. There may have been wild browns there since long before any of us were born. Brown trout were introduced in the US in the 1800s and have been reproducing in the streams ever since.

I'm not sure why this idea persists that if there are wild browns in a stream that it must be the result of recent stockings.

For example, if someone sees a carp or an English sparrow, or a smallmouth bass in the Delaware River, they don't tend to assume that they are there as a result of recent stockies adapting. People realize that those creatures were introduced, and established populations, a long time ago.

The situation is the same with brown trout. If all stocking of brown trout ended, 20 years from now there would still be brown trout very widely distributed.

troutbert wrote:Since it's on the reproduction list, it may not be a matter of recent stocked browns adapting. There may have been wild browns there since long before any of us were born. Brown trout were introduced in the US in the 1800s and have been reproducing in the streams ever since.

I'm not sure why this idea persists that if there are wild browns in a stream that it must be the result of recent stockings.

For example, if someone sees a carp or an English sparrow, or a smallmouth bass in the Delaware River, they don't tend to assume that they are there as a result of recent stockies adapting. People realize that those creatures were introduced, and established populations, a long time ago.

The situation is the same with brown trout. If all stocking of brown trout ended, 20 years from now there would still be brown trout very widely distributed.

Where is chester creek on the list? one tributary is listed, not Chester creek itself, unless it's listed for a different county and I missed it. I would agree that the fish migrated from somewhere and will be miles away come summer.

Since most people in the U.S. are stockies and we have reproduced - Why can't trout do the same?

Let's make a trip up to NY City Central Park and catch some of them stocked snakeheads they got in there!

P.S. the state didn't stock them.

Posted on: 2013/5/6 13:47

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